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August 4, 2020, Planning Commission Meeting MinutesPlanning Commission Meeting Minutes August 4, 2020 Zoom Teleconference Commissioners: Present: Stephanie Bailey, Phil King, Joe Morrison, Suanne Martin Smith, Annette Stewart, Trish Tierney, Mark Trenary Absent: Dave Bernstein Staff Present: Community Development Director Nick Bond, Long Range Planner Keri Sallee, Planning Intern Josie Rademacher 1. Call to Order: Chair Stewart called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m., and read the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” remote meeting protocol into the record. Stewart then led the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Public Comments: There were no public comments from the audience. 3. Approval of Minutes From June 2, 2020: Commissioner Tierney made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 2, 2020 Planning Commission meeting, as presented. Commissioner Bailey seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Business items: Ruby Creek Neighborhood Subarea Plan and Development Regulations. Public Hearing and Discussion: Ruby Creek Neighborhood Subarea Plan. Community Development Director Bond gave an overview of the Ruby Creek Neighborhood Subarea Plan, and the planning process and objectives that led to its preparation. Bond noted that an informational community open house had been planned, which had to be canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic, but the City had provided an online website and survey, had provided notices to residents, and had discussed the plan at numerous public City meetings. Chair Stewart opened the public hearing on the draft subarea plan. Dick Brown said that he had been working on a project on his properties since the early 1990s. He had it included in the City’s urban growth area, he obtained the zoning, and had it annexed into the City. He was surprised that the City prepared this plan without asking what he or his partners had planned to do with their properties. He has been paying taxes for over 20 years and wants it to stay 100% commercial. There are 35 acres involved, and Brown’s property is the Tallman piece. The Krieger piece should probably be saved for retail. Bond clarified that Brown is referencing properties C, D and E in the plan. Brown asked that the City respect their property rights, and not design plans without finding out if they’re interested in selling their properties for that purpose. He and Ron Rice started talking years ago with John Clauson, Executive Director of Kitsap Transit, about putting a park and ride at this location, but a roundabout is needed at the Lowe’s light to provide a “pressure relief valve” for the intersection. The City needs to make sure traffic can get through here, especially since there will be traffic from about 1,000 new houses coming through the intersection from McCormick Woods and Berry Lake Drive. He also has concerns about how water and sewer will be brought in to the area. Jake Hancock, speaking on behalf of his mother Sharon Wheeler, said that they would be in favor of a park and ride, a Target or other large retail center. A lot of small shops seems like a risky investment. No amount of road widening short of a freeway will help the traffic. He expressed concern that more people in the area could result in more security issues. His property is located next to the Church of the Nazarene. Chair Stewart closed the public hearing. Commissioner Tierney asked if the City talked with property owners while developing the subarea plan. Bond said that the City sent out notices asking property owners to take a survey about what they wanted for the subarea but didn’t get much response. There are only about 20 or 30 property owners in the subarea. The City also sent notices to everyone who lives in the Sidney and Sinclair apartments, but got little response, possibly because the apartment residents don’t really have roots in the area. With covid-19, the City was limited in public forum options such as an open house, so it was decided to bring the plan forward for a public hearing and get comment at this time. The Planning Commission may decide that more public hearings are needed. Stewart asked if, when there is a renter in a property, if the notice is sent to the renter, the property owner, or both. Long Range Planner Sallee said that the notices are sent to the property owner, based on mailing addresses provided by the Kitsap County Assessor’s office. Bond said that for the Sidney and Sinclair apartments, notice was provided to the management and was requested to be distributed to the residents. Sallee said that the survey notices went to every property owner within the subarea boundary, and the area for the Notice of Hearing distribution was expanded to the subarea boundary plus 800 feet outside of it. Bond said that regarding the traffic concerns, the subarea plan proposes to widen Sidney Rd, and this is also in the City’s adopted Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The City will also widen Sedgwick Rd West between Sidney and SR-16 with additional lanes and sidewalks. WSDOT also plans to redo the SR-16 interchange at Sedgwick so that the overpass will handle more traffic. The City did consider building a roundabout or traffic signal at Lowe’s that would tie into Hovde or Sidney, but bridging Blackjack Creek would result in a $20 million project, and the City doesn’t feel that it would result in a more effective solution than the proposed widening projects. Bond said that Ron Rice contacted him about two weeks prior to the hearing to discuss concerns about the critical areas maps and figures in the plan. As a result of this conversation the City added a disclaimer at the front of the plan that indicates that the plans are using best available data, but actual wetland and stream delineations will be required at the time of a development proposal to determine what portion of a property is or isn’t developable, or to what extent mitigation would be required, based on the location of critical areas and buffers. Dick Brown said that when Target was interested in his property, he and his partners spent about $100-150,000 on wetland delineations and drainage. He doesn’t want to turn the property into a park after spending all that money. Bond said that the park is actually shown further north, on the Krieger property, at the confluence of Blackjack and Ruby Creeks where significant buffers are required. Part of preparing a subarea plan, according to the requirements of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), is fulfilling the requirement that the subarea be a cohesive neighborhood that provides all the amenities that residents would want for daily living, such as parks and open space. The exact location of the park will end up being based on where mapped floodplains are located. The park may periodically flood but only certain facilities such as restrooms would need to be located outside the floodplain. Commissioner King asked how the plan would affect Brown’s ability to build smaller commercial projects, such as auto parts stores or restaurants. Bond said that both would be allowed in the mixed-use zones. Actual auto repair would not be allowed except in the Commercial Heavy zone. Commissioner Trenary asked when the SR-16 interchange improvements would take place. Bond said that this is a state legislative funding matter. Trenary then asked Brown if he agreed with his property becoming a park and ride, and Brown said yes, he and his partners agreed that the lower portion of the property could be sold to Kitsap Transit for that purpose. Otherwise, there are other possibilities for the floodplain such as mitigation area. Access to the site will be an issue. Bond said that the zoning currently does not allow a Target or other big-box store on Brown’s property, and the property is so constrained by critical areas it is unlikely that there would be enough buildable area to make it worthwhile. The subarea plan actually offers more building height and allows development setbacks to extend closer to Sidney Road. The Planning Commission continued the public hearing on the subarea plan to the September 1 meeting. Discussion: Ruby Creek Neighborhood Development Regulations. Bond said that the new and amended development regulations to implement the subarea plan include amendments to the City Zoning Map and Self-Storage Overlay District Map, a new Ruby Creek Overlay District (RCOD) map, and new standards for block frontage street design and landscaping, land uses and building height in the RCOD. The development regulations will be addressed at the continued Ruby Creek Subarea Plan public hearing on September 1. Sallee said that another Notice of Hearing would be sent out to the subarea plus 800 feet to inform property owners of the continued hearing for the subarea plan and the development regulations. Discussion/Public Hearing/Recommendation: ADU Code Revisions. Sallee gave a summary of the proposed changes to the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) code (Chapter 20.68 POMC) that were intended to clarify the ADU permitting process and make it easier for homeowners to apply for and build ADUs. These include: a revision to clarify that a property owner may rent out a room(s) in his/her legal residence (i.e. have a roommate) while also renting out the ADU; removal of the requirement preventing a property owner from having separate utility meters and billing for the ADU; clarification on how lot coverage is calculated; removal of the prohibition against having any accessory buildings over 200 feet other than an ADU. Chair Stewart opened the public hearing. No comments were made. Chair Stewart closed the public hearing. Commissioner Tierney made a motion to recommend that the City Council approve the proposed revisions to the ADU code requirements in Chapter 20.68 POMC. Commissioner Martin Smith seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Discussion/Public Hearing/Recommendation: Fireworks Code Revisions. Sallee gave a summary of the proposed changes to the land use table in Chapter 20.39.040 POMC affecting the locations where fireworks sales could be located. Currently, the commercial sale of fireworks is allowed only in the Commercial Heavy (CH) and Industrial Flex (IF) zones. The City Council wishes to allow civic and institutional organizations such as churches and other religious groups, fraternal organizations, youth groups and schools to sell fireworks as an accessory use on properties where a civic and institutional use has already been established conforming to zoning. Therefore, the City Council directed staff to prepare revisions to the Chapter 20.39.040 use table to add fireworks sales as an accessory use to an existing civic and institutional use, in accordance with POMC 5.60 (fireworks sales permit requirements), on properties zoned Civic & Institutional (CI). Bond said that updating the code requirements now will give fireworks vendors plenty of time to find a new site before the next season. He noted that the City does not limit how many fireworks stands may be located within the City. Chair Stewart opened the public hearing. No comments were made. Chair Stewart closed the public hearing. Commissioner Trenary made a motion to recommend that the City Council approve the proposed revisions to the fireworks code requirements in Chapter 20.39.040 POMC. Commissioner Martin Smith seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Introduction to the Port Orchard Downtown Subarea Economic Analysis. Bond said that the City has kicked off the process to prepare a downtown and county government campus subarea plan. The City has hired a Seattle consultant, GGLO, to prepare the plan and they have provided an initial market analysis to inform the planning process. The boundary of the study area includes the designated Downtown and County Government Campus centers as provided in the current City Comprehensive Plan, but includes nearby areas as well. The City will be doing environmental analysis and an Environmental Impact Statement on several planned growth alternatives – baseline, high capacity residential, and high capacity commercial. Either high-capacity alternative would include 1,000-1,300 new residential units. A scoping notice for the environmental review will be going out in September. Adjourn: Chair Stewart adjourned the meeting at 7:21 pm. Annette Stewart, Chair Nick Bond, Community Development Director